


The Beast Within 8/?

by iantosgal (orphan_account)



Series: The Beast Within [8]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Timelines, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 05:38:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/iantosgal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack is back from his time with the Doctor and his team are keeping something from him, but what? Set after KKBB.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beast Within 8/?

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a story I posted a couple of years back on my LJ. My Torchwood muse buggered off and the story died. A couple of days ago, I found it, re-read it and the muse was reawakened!! So I've written a couple more chapters and just wanted to repost this over here on my new profile! So sorry for the spam of chapters, if anyone remembers it from LJ then I'm sorry for the long wait and for anyone that reads, I hope you enjoy it!!!

Ianto wiped the tears roughly from his face and pulled on his gym clothes. He set the treadmill at the highest speed he could and ran flat out.

Ianto suspected Jack may have told the rest of them to give him some space as no one came down. His com beeped and he clicked it open, knowing it was a private line to Jack. They didn’t say anything, Jack just listened to Ianto’s breathing as it got faster and faster as he ran, whilst Ianto simply took comfort from Jack’s presence. He loved that they could support each other without saying a word, without even being in the same room.

Ianto began to slow the treadmill down, feeling the beginnings of a stitch. He hadn’t had one of those in a while.

The door banged open on Jack’s end and Ianto sighed as he heard Gwen’s angry voice over the com. He switched it off and threw it across the room before turning the treadmill back up, trying to pump his anger and grief through his feet as they pounded at a frantic pace.

When the gym door burst open, Ianto didn’t even flinch. He would have heard Gwen coming a mile away and he could practically smell the emotion seeping out of her skin. The anger, grief, betrayal even, seemed to waft off of her in waves.

Ianto gradually came to a stop, braced himself and turned to face her, stepping off the treadmill and grabbing his towel.

“Why? She wasn’t going to hurt me.”

“Gwen…”

“It was a trick, she wanted you to kill her.” Gwen’s voice was getting louder and faster as she spoke.

“I know. Gwen…”

“She made you think she was going to kill me and you, you fell for it.” Gwen threw her hands up in the air.

“Gwen…” Ianto tried to stay calm.

“I mean did you really not see through that? She was Beth not that monster when you killed her. She’d backed off for Christ’s sake. She was looking at you. It was obvious, I mean she even said. I just don’t understand why you did it Ianto.”

“Gwen, if you just let me….”

“She wasn’t going to hurt me!” Gwen screamed.

“Not everything is about you, Gwen.” Ianto’s bellowing voice echoed around the room.

Gwen blinked.

“I didn’t kill her because I thought she was an immediate threat. I killed her because she wanted to die, because she had seen what she was going to become, and she just wanted it to be over. She wanted to die so that it would be easier for us.”

“So you killed her for convenience then, is that what your saying?”

“NO! Gwen, listen to me. You have no idea what it’s like to be in her position. I do.” He pressed his hands against his chest and looked deep into her eyes, desperate to make her understand. “I do. I feel like her every time I change.”

Gwen’s face flickered into a look of understanding and suddenly Ianto found himself wrapped in her arms. He bent down slightly and put his arms around her, drawing her close.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok.”

“No it’s not. I should have known it was hard for you. God, sometimes I really put my foot in it, don’t I?”

“Sometimes.” Ianto said with a cheeky smile.

Gwen playfully slapped him on the shoulder not moving from the embrace before settling her head on his chest.

“I just wanted to save her so much.”

Ianto tightened his arms around his friend.

“I know. But we did Gwen. We did save her.”

Gwen nodded against his broad torso and, as her anger dissolved, she began to cry softly while Ianto rocked her gently.

*~*~*~*

Ianto knocked lightly on Jack’s office door and let himself in without waiting for an answer.

Jack looked up and when he saw it was Ianto he rose wordlessly, crossed to the door, and pulled him into a tight hug.

Ianto melted into Jack’s embrace. He had missed this, just being held by Jack when he needed it most and being able to return the favour when Jack needed him.

They stayed like that for what felt like forever before Ianto finally pulled away and kissed Jack tenderly. Jack returned his kiss with enthusiasm and it soon became more passionate. They hadn’t kissed since Jack had gotten back and they poured everything they could into it. How much they had missed each other, sorrow and gratitude, regret and forgiveness, and above all love.

When they finally pulled away, Jack rested his forehead against Ianto’s and sighed contentedly.

“God I missed you. I love you so much, Yan.”

“I love you too. Jack?”

“Yeah.” Jack pulled back and looked into his lovers eyes noting the sadness and something else that told him that he probably wouldn’t like the next words to come out of Ianto’s mouth.

He was right.

“I need you to promise me that if I ever loose control and it looks like I’m about to hurt someone innocent that you will stop me.”

Jack swallowed.

“I’d do all I could if that happened.”

“No, Jack. I need you to promise that if it happens you will stop me.”

Jack blinked and pulled out of his lovers arms. Walking away he, thrust his hands deep into his pockets and stared out of the glass wall.

“You can’t ask me to do that.”

“Jack…”

“Think about what you are asking me to do.”

“Jack, please.”

“Ianto, I…I can’t.” Jack turned to face Ianto, tears streaming down his face. “I can’t.”

“I need you to do this for me.” Ianto walked forward and put his hands on Jack’s shoulders. “I’m talking about if there are no stun guns around, if you can’t reach through to me any other way, if I ever lose control. I’m getting pretty good at this werewolf thing and I know it’s unlikely to ever happen. But after Alice I just need to know that someone I love will save not just them, but me.”

They looked deeply into each others eyes and Jack could see the pain in Ianto’s stormy blues.

“I dream about her all the time. Not just her, but Owen, Tosh, Gwen. How would I live with myself if I lost control and killed one of them, or worse made them like me. Please, Jack. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I need to know you’ll do what’s right.”

Jack brought his hand up to stroke gently across Ianto’s cheek.

“You dying will never be right, Ianto. But if it ever comes to it, I’ll do it.”

Ianto seemed to physically relax.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

Jack just nodded and wrapped his arms around the Welshman. It was the hardest thing he’d ever have to do and he hoped and prayed that it would never come to that. Ever.

*~*~*~*

The rift didn’t let them rest for long. Beth had barely been dead four hours when the alarms sounded shrilly through the Hub.

“Got a rift spike near that golf course out near Lower Penarth,” Tosh called in a slightly surprised voice.

“Does the rift even spread out that far?” asked Gwen.

“Who knows? Ok gang, lets head out,” Jack called.

Their destination turned out to be in a large wooded area on the other side of a lake across from the golf course. They all clambered out of the SUV and followed Tosh, who led the way, PDA held aloft.

The closer they got to the spike’s location, the more confused Ianto got.

Normally he would have heard or smelled something by now and he was getting nothing. When he finally heard a faint noise, it wasn’t what he expected and he frowned, not fully understanding what he was hearing.

They approached a clearing cautiously and as they burst out, guns raised, Ianto finally realised what he was hearing.

In the clearing was the most beautiful big cat that Ianto had ever seen. She could have passed as a tiger if it wasn’t for the glimmering, silvery blue hair that coated her muscular form. She looked up at them startled and drew back, revealing three gorgeous cubs, their hair pure silver glinting in the midday sun.

The mother looked at them, her intelligent eyes flickering from face to face. They were momentarily stunned and then cautiously lowered their guns. The cat answered by leaning down and licking her cubs on the head one by one before moving behind them and settling down. The cubs immediately pounced and began to clamber over their mother, play fighting with each other.

They stood there unmoving, entranced by the beauty of it all. After the horrors of the last couple of days, the rift had surprised them with this stunning gift.

“They’re absolutely gorgeous.” Gwen breathed.

The others nodded, too enthralled to form words.

“What do we do?” Asked Tosh after a while, the thought of killing them made her stomach churn. “How do we know if they’re dangerous?”

“They’re big cats. They’ve gotta be dangerous” Owen.

Ianto shook his head.

“No, they’re not.”

“How do you know?” Owen asked.

“I just know. I can sense it. If they were going to hurt us they would have done it already.” To prove his point the walked over to the cats.

“Yan,” Jack hissed and motioned for him to come back.

“It’s ok, trust me.”

They all watched with bated breath as Ianto approached the cats. The mother’s ears pricked as he approached but otherwise she didn’t react. Ianto knelt down beside them and held a hand out to one of the cubs.

They held their breath as the cub sniffed Ianto’s fingers and then sighed with relief as the cub simply gave a mewl and clambered up onto his lap, pushing it’s head against Ianto’s hand as though expecting to be petted.

Gwen and Tosh rushed forward and began to stroke them mercilessly, cooing at the little cubs. Ianto rose, the cub still in his arms, and made his way over to Jack and Owen.

“So what do we do?” Ianto asked.

Jack smiled at the relaxed look of Ianto and reached out to scratch the top of the cub’s head.

“I say we leave them be. They’re not dangerous and no one comes out here anyway.”

Ianto nodded, his smile broadening, and turned back to the cats, placing the cub down near the others, where it was immediately seized upon by Gwen.

*~*~*~*

They got back to the Hub in considerably higher spirits. They were still upset over everything with Beth and they all needed to go home, but for once the rift had been kind and they all felt that little bit more at ease.

At the end of the day, they had done everything they could for Beth. Now they moved on, just as before.

Jack sent them all home and retreated to his office.

Soft footfalls sounded on the steps and he looked up to see Ianto standing in the door way.

“So, I was thinking, about that date. Now’s as good a time as any. I’m starving. Back to mine with take out and a movie?”

“Not exactly what I had in mind but I could never say no to you,” Jack said, rising and grabbing his coat.

“Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?” Ianto asked with a smile.

“I was thinking dinner in an actual restaurant and a movie in an actual cinema.”

“So basically what I suggested, but public.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Jack replied, setting the Hub to send alerts to his wrist strap. They crossed the Hub, shutting down as they went.

Suddenly Ianto was behind him, his hands wrapped around him pulling him close. His mouth was close to Jack’s ear, his hot breath make Jack shiver as he whispered in his ear.

“I can think of things to do that don’t go down so well in public.” He nipped Jack’s ear before pulling away and heading out.

Jack swallowed and followed Ianto.

They made it through dinner and half of the film before they lost themselves in each other.

Ianto kissed Jack with such passion that Jack thought he would drown in it. He kissed him back with equal measure, his hands roaming freely, re-exploring the man he thought he had lost.

Jack found himself being lifted off the couch and he could feel the strong muscles rippling in Ianto’s back and arms. He wrapped his legs around Ianto’s waist and laughed softly into Ianto’s mouth, as his lover kicked open the bedroom door and laid him down on the bed.


End file.
